[Lee Stewart]

My second all time favorite car behind the 1969 Camaro. And no, I never owned one but . . .

I turned 18 in May of 1969 and was living at Grossingers Hotel in Liberty, NY. One of my friends from Traffic, whose name escapes me, had come home from Vietnam and had purchased a brand new 1969 Charger R/T in Bright Blue with a White Vinyl Top and White Bumble Bee Stripe. It was fully loaded with A/C, Power Windows, Disc Brakes, Steering, Magnum 500 wheels with a Blue interior. "Lee, I am going to take you to NYC for your 18th Birthday and celebrate it right!" So around 9PM the day before my actual birthday, we left the hotel for the 2 hour ride from Liberty to NYC. Arrived a little after 11PM and immediately drove to a popular club/bar (can't remember the name) where on the stroke of Midnight, I officially turned 18. Left right afterwards and drove out to Queens to a bowling alley which was one of the strangest I had ever seen. It looked like a Bus Stop. The entire complex (100 lanes) was below ground. Here we hooked up with a bunch of my friend's buddies who proceeded to take him away to parts unknown.

So here I am in Queens with a bunch of people I don't know and one of them says, "Lee, let's take a ride." OK - sounds good to me. He had the keys to the Charger so we climbed in and off we went. About 10 minutes later we are stopped at a light and a Maroon 1969 Z/28 pulls next to us. The light turns green and we are off like a shot beating the Z/28 to the next light where we pick up a 1968 GTO. Again we win and for the next 2 hours, we are street racing and winning every single race. The guy I am with is a hell of a driver. We finally wind up back at the bowling alley where my friend has returned. It's now about 3AM. So more drinking (not me) and my friend is getting really drunk. I remind him I have to be at work at 10AM. "No problem Lee - one more for the road." 3 drinks later, it's 4:30 AM and my friend has passed out. I turn to the guy who took me street racing and tell him to get my friend into the back seat of the Charger, it's time to go.

With a few easy directions, I am now headed back to Liberty getting on the NYS Thruway headed to RTE 17. I have never driven the Charger but because it has an automatic, not too difficult. I figure I should be OK as long as I keep my foot out of the accelerator. To be honest, it's power scared me a bit. But I do notice that the Tach is running about 3000 RPM which seems a bit high for 70 MPH and the exhaust is "growling." I look down and realize I am in 2nd gear - 100 miles since I left Queens. Shift it into Drive - that's much better. Got us back to the hotel around 7AM. I park the car where we are living, tuck the keys in my friends pocket - he is still passed out - grab 2 hours of sleep and get to work on time.

So no, I never owned a 1969 Charger R/T but I did drive one. Only not fast